About that vehicle location data – it comes from license plates that are publicly visible for all to see. The United States is home to the largest passenger vehicle market in the world with over 250 million passenger vehicles travelling on public roads and thoroughfares. Every car has a license plate and our cameras capture images of license plates that pass within the field of view of the camera, the location where the camera was located when the photograph was taken, and the time and date the camera took the photograph. These cameras simply automate a process that has been done manually for years – capturing publicly visibly and publicly available information. Because the camera is photographing license plates in public locations visible for all to see, there is no expectation of privacy in the data we collect. We take those images and the data associated with them and leverage our analytics to deliver DRNsights, solutions for Auto Finance, Insurance and Auto Recovery.

Insurance Solutions

Recovery Solutions

Our vehicle location data and insights transform Automotive Recovery and increase portfolio returns. Every 1000 vehicles put into the DRN network for repossession translates into a $1 million portfolio impact.

Big Idea Led to Big Data Solutions

DRN was the brainchild of Todd Hodnett, who grew up working for his father in the vehicle repossession industry. After graduating from law school and working as General Counsel, he took a leave of absence to help his father run the repossession business. “I was used to working with sophisticated software to manage case law and I realized that the repossession industry needed something similar,” Todd said, “so, I hired programmers to write it.”

That software led to the creation of the largest database of cars for repossession in the world. But repossession drivers had to enter the license plate numbers by hand in order to build the database. Then Todd saw an article that showed police using cameras to record and recognize license plates, allowing them to then run those numbers against the FBI’s large database of stolen cars.

“That’s when I realized that the same optical character recognition techniques could be used with our database of cars for repossession,” Todd said. Not long after that, Digital Recognition Network was born.

DRN was formally established in January 2009. Since then the company has continued on a growth path fueled by an expanded solutions that leverage DRN’s data for everything from auto recovery to insurance fraud investigation.

Total Vehicle Sightings

Compliance is Key

DRN maintains strict controls over the data we gather. We abide by all regulatory guidelines to ensure the security of our data. This includes adherence to the Drivers Privacy Protection Act (DPPA), ongoing alerts to ensure system security and availability, 24-hour data center security, and access audits to prevent unauthorized data access.
Read More: Privacy & Security Statement

Making a Difference

More than just providing data insights that make a difference for our clients, DRN works to make a difference by giving back. Our passion extends beyond service to our clients, but to a belief that we do our best when we provide service to charities and organizations in need.

Throughout the year we provide our time, resources and sponsorship donations a number of organizations including: Boys & Girls Club, Dallas GiveCamp, Harmony Heights School of New York, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and The Ladder Alliance.